Under the proposed option, the Defense Department would replace 70,000 of its 500,000 uniformed military personnel in commercial jobs with 47,000 civilian employees and reduce its military end strength by 70,000, according to the CBO.

It would require fewer civilian employees because they have fewer collateral duties and do not relocate as often, and have a lower cost of employment.

The Defense Department has already converted about 48,000 military positions to 32,000 civilian jobs between 2004 and 2010, according to the CBO.

However, the downside is that the military would have fewer military personnel to deploy in the event of an emergency or military engagement, according to the CBO.

The replacement of military personnel with civilian employees is just one of several ways the Defense Department could cut spending by billions of dollars over the next ten years, including:

Reducing the size of the military across the board in order to satisfy the budget caps. This would include eliminating 10 Army brigade combat teams, 34 major warships and 170 Air Force fighters.

Capping increases in basic pay for military personnel, possibly saving $25 billion over ten years.